


forelsket

by Choaru, elysianpeaches



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Harukawa Maki & Ouma Kokichi - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-05-09 08:18:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14712489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Choaru/pseuds/Choaru, https://archiveofourown.org/users/elysianpeaches/pseuds/elysianpeaches
Summary: (n.) the euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love.A collection of short stories between Ouma Kokichi and Saihara Shuuichi, through multiple universes.





	1. permanence (TattooArtist!AU)

* * *

Shuuichi’s unsure about a lot of things.

 

He was unsure of his career choice. He was unsure about abandoning the path he had created for himself. He was unsure of his friendships with many people. He was unsure of himself.   _(He’s still unsure about that one offer Miu made to him back in high school. But he doesn’t dwell on that.)_

 

Bur right now, in his tattoo store, in front of him, is a man. And Shuuichi’s not sure how he feels about this.

 

On a stool in front of him, sits a short man, in a white dress shirt, purple shorts and checkered shoes. His purple hair’s a mess around him and his eyes are wide with excitement. In an oddly cute way, he reminds Shuuichi of an excited child. That’s partly why Shuuichi is unsure about this.

 

“Hey, hey! Do you think you could, like… tattoo “I LOVE DICK” on my arm?”

 

He’s also _clearly drunk._

 

“I… I don’t know if I could..” He hesitates. He's not entirely okay with drunk customers, seeing as they don't have a grasp on consciousness and rationalism/

 

 _The boy pouts_. He freaking pouts at Shuuichi and he has to tear his eyes away. “Aww… why not? Is it because I look like a kid who just got wasted on his first night out on the town? Is that it?!”

 

The waterworks start and Shuuichi panics.

 

“W-wait! No! Y-you’re drunk and therefore, I’m not sure if you’re sure about making this decision!” Shuuichi stammers and searches for a tissue. He finds one and hands it to the other. “P-please don’t cry.. I didn’t mean any harm.”

 

The sniffles stop almost immediately and Shuuichi is startled at the sudden change in attitude.

 

“Nishishi! Aw, did you take me seriously? That was a lie, silly! Kokichi Ouma, at your service! 25 years old and a college student!” The other man, Kokichi, giggles childishly.

 

Shuuichi feels his mind racing, his face reddening and his heart slowly melting.

 

“A-ah.. It’s nice to meet you then.. I’m Shuuichi Saihara. And… uh..” He finally hifts his eyes to the other man leaning against the wall in his studio. White hair, grey eyes, white shirt, grey vest, black pants. “And you are…?”

 

“Kiibo Idabashi. Kokichi’s roommate.” He nods at Shuuichi. “Sorry for the trouble. He’s very stubborn.” Kiibo sighs and Shuuichi could only describe it as both fond and exasperated. 

 

Shuuichi lets his eyes go back to Kokichi, who had hopped off the stool and was observing the designs he had on his wall. “Does… he know what he’s doing? Tattoos are permanent, after all.”

 

“Trust me, he is.” Kiibo rolls his eyes. “Even before he had gotten absolutely hammered, he had been thinking about getting one. He wasn’t sure which store to go to. My girlfriend suggested your store.”

 

“Oh… your girlfriend?” Shuuichi admits that he has many clients but he still feels a bit embarrassed when people mention his place. He's still not used to attention, despite being in the tattoo industry for more than 3 years.  “She sounds nice.”

 

“Ah, Miu can be a character but she does have good intentions.” Kiibo is visibly flustered and Shuuichi is amused.   _Miu must be more of a common name than he thought_.

 

His attention turns to Kokichi when the shorter man returns to the stool. “So you’re sure about this? Do you really want to do this?”

 

“Yep! I trust my beloved Shuuichi~” Kokichi leans forward on one arm, in an attempt to be flirty, but loses his balance and promptly slides forward and smacks his forehead on the desk.

 

“Charming. So, what design did you have in mind?” Shuichi decides to ignore the nickname (though he can feel his heart fluttering) and proceeds to pull out an album of designs.

 

“Hm… nah, surprise me. I make bad choices when I’m drunk. Isn’t that right, Kiibo~?” He spins on the stool and throws finger guns at Kiibo, who reluctantly nods. Shuuichi wonders what Kokichi has done and what's it like to be Kokichi’s roommate. 

 

"Are you okay with that?" Shuuichi's not sure if Kokichi has any grasp on the current situation. Kokichi shrugs. "Surprise me~ I've been so bored lately and you seem like the surprising type."

 

At this point, Shuuichi’s too tired to question him. He guides him to his work area and starts getting the things needed.

 

“Hey, Shuuichi? You’re really cute, did you know that?” Kokichi stares at him with an unreadable expression once he’s sat in front of the shorter boy.

 

“Uh.. thank you?” Shuuichi’s about ninety percent sure that the alcohol is getting to Kokichi.

 

“Like, you’re really cute. I’d love to have your face tattooed on me.”

 

They both stare at each other for a good ten seconds before Kokichi passes out. Shuuichi takes this moment to take a deep breath and to sort out his thoughts. He does not deal well with flirting but for some reason, this man in front of him has Shuuichi interested.

 

He... looks cute asleep.

 

Shaking his head, he starts to get to work. He’s a bit startled when Kiibo comes over and whispers into his ear. “Could you perhaps do me a favor?”

 

The taller man looks at him quizzically. “.. Sure?”

 

“ _Could you perhaps…_ ”

 

Kiibo whispers more and Shuuichi grins.

 

* * *

 

When Kokichi wakes up the next day and screams when he sees what’s tattooed on his arm, Kiibo swears it’s music to his ears.

 There, on Kokichi's arm, in beautiful penmanship and permanent black ink, was:

“ _Shuuichi Saihara._

 _0X-XXXX-XXXX_ ”

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elysian speaking here! So Choaru and I have been sharing and discussing AUs through Discord. And we thought, hey, why not post this on AO3? So I hope you enjoy this entire.. mess. There's more to come. :")


	2. Winter Memories (College! AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is Choaru, the other writer of this series :D!  
> This was suppose to be posted on Ouma's birthday, but i'm really bad at managing time, and this work turned out to be a lot longer than I expected!  
> I'm really sorry if there is any grammar or spelling errors :') I'm really not good at them, but I really hope you enjoy this fic!  
> We will have two parts of this AU posted in this story, and I think Elysian and I are planning to make another story that is solely focused on the rest of the College!AU.  
> Thank you so much!

Standing behind a cash register at WacDonald’s drive-thru was not where Saihara Shuichi thought he would be spending the winter semester at Hope’s Peak University. Despite being enrolled in such a prestigious institution with a multitude of unique facilities, the only place he could find a job on campus was the local, and very popular, fast food restaurant. While the job itself was boring and frustrating at some points, he often found himself trying to imagine what the customers would look like from their cars and voices. He wasn’t called the Ultimate Detective for nothing while attending high school.

 

A loud honk from the speaker snaps Saihara from his thoughts, and he turns his attention to the small monitor to the side of the cash register. There was a small blue convertible in front of the speaker with a fairly tall man leaning out the window, the shadows casted by his cap made it too hard to distinguish any other features. Saihara sighs and pushes down the button to the microphone, “Hello, Welcome to WacDonalds. May I take your order?” He saw the man stiffen for a bit before ordering in an almost strained high pitch voice, _How strange...is there another person in the car? I can’t see them, maybe they are on the phone with someone else?_ Saihara thinks before telling the man to pull up to the second window.

 

As the man reaches the window, Saihara’s attention is immediately drawn to a small glint in the passenger seat. “Is that a camera?” he questions. The driver tenses up and scratched the back of his head, something one of his old friends use to do when he was nervous.  _Wait..._ Saihara blinks. There was a short pause, a small chuckle, and a loud hush. Saihara squints to get a better view of the man on the other side of the small window. “Momota-kun?!” He notices a blob of purple hair perk up in the back seat, “Ouma-kun?!”

 

There was a small whine from the back of the car. “Wow! Just like you Shumai to ruin a perfectly good prank!” The smaller boy emerges from back and slides into the passenger seat, grabbing Momota’s hat and fitting it on top of his wild hair. “What gave it away, my beloved? It was probably Momota-chan’s terrible acting, wasn’t it? He’s so bad at it!” The two boys in the car begin to exchange insults until Saihara coughs to get their attention. “Yes?” Ouma hums as he covers Momota’s mouth with his hand, completely ignoring the astronauts protesting.

 

Saihara sighs and taps his finger against the windowsill. He turns his head to see if there are any other cars, and then continues when he is met with an empty road. “Have you been doing this to everybody in our class, Kokichi?” His question was met with small ‘nishishi’ from the leader and muffled nervous laugh from Momota. Saihara pinched the bridge of his nose, “Just answer my question...please.”

 

Ouma puffs out his cheeks, fake tears threatening to fall. “Can’t a worried man check up on his gorgeous boyfriend without any other motives?!”

 

“I-I mean,” Saihara mutters softly as a faint blush crosses his cheeks, “You just told me it was a prank.”

 

“Aw man, leave it up to the Ultimate Detective to ruin the fun.” Despite his words, Ouma was staring at Saihara with a certain sparkle in his eyes, while simultaneously taking a long sip from a cup labeled ‘Bendy’s’. “Anyways, Saihara-chan! Are you going to give us our food, or are you going to scam us like Makiroll did?!”

 

Saihara blushes at the nickname. “Oh right, just give me a se—!” He freezes mid input and turns to the duo; glare met with a wide grin and a pair of guilty eyes. He presses the cancel order button, and closes the window.

 

Ouma takes his hand off of Momota’s mouth and wipes them dry on the Astronaut’s purple jacket. He sets down his drink in the cup holder and raises his hands around his mouth, “See you back at the dorm, Saihara-chan!” he sings before Momota yells at him to put on his seatbelt. Saihara waves as the two drive away into the darkness.

 

Despite his boyfriend’s unique and random antics, Saihara still loved the boy very much. A small snowflake fluttering pass the window brought a small smile to his face as well as a flood of special memories.

 

* * *

 

_Christmas Eve 5 Years Ago, Hope’s Peak Academy_

Saihara hissed as a blinding white light was shined directly into his eyes. As he sat up trying to rub away the sleepyness, he was met with a familiar purple haired boy smiling at him while holding the curtains open. “Saihara-chan! Let’s go outside and play in the snow!” The two of them locked eyes in silence as the statement was slowly processing through the detectives head. In the end, he let out a very silent “huuh?”

 

Ouma threw himself on top of Saihara, and wrapped his arms around him. Saihara stiffened, it wasn’t like these types of actions were uncommon between the two of them, but the fact they were in his room and on his bed caused him to panic a bit. He had a crush on Ouma for quite sometime, but he never really knew if the other boy shared the same feelings. Sure, Ouma had asked Saihara out on multiple occasions during their first year together at Hope’s Peak Academy, but due to the leaders reputation of lying and teasing others, Saihara wasn’t sure if what the other boy words were genuine.

 

“Earth to Saihara-Chan!” sung Ouma as he waved his hands in front of Saihara’s eyes. Immediately, Saihara snapped out of his thoughts and put his attention on the boy who was quite literally sitting on top of him. Once their eyes met, Ouma pouted and lightly started to hit Saihara’s stomach. “Stop zoning out on me! Did you even hear what I said, Shumai?!”

 

The detective let out a small laugh and held the other boys hand still. “I’m sorry, could you please repeat it?”

 

Ouma crawled off of Saihara’s waist and dramatically stood up, putting his hands on his waist and puffing out his chest. He cleared his throat and began to sing ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman’, only to be cut off by a large blue-and-white striped pillow being tossed at his face with a barely audible ‘sure’. As Saihara made his way into restroom slowly, Ouma squeezed the pillow slightly before throwing it back onto the bed.

 

After a few minutes of trying to find proper clothing to wear outside, Saihara and Ouma both left the room in outfits that could only be compared to a pair of walking marshmallows. The usually lively campus was barren due to a majority of the students having returned home to celebrate Christmas with their families, which made the large field in front of their dormitory a perfect target for an army of snowmen.

 

Saihara usually went back to his Uncle’s house for the holiday, but decided to stay when when he found out Akamatsu wasn’t going home. She told him a while ago that she would have liked to head home, but would rather visit when she would be able to actually spend time with them alone. Before Saihara could question further, she then told him that she found out from Tojo that both Ouma and Amami would also be staying as well, which resulted in the two of them spending the latter half of the week figuring out why.

 

Turned out that Amami was staying because his sisters have been planning to visit for quite some time, and decided Christmas would be the best due to the sheer number of them and the lack of students. As for Ouma, when Saihara brought up the question while the two of them were playing a game of chess in Ouma’s room, the smaller boy simply shrugged while taking the rook with his horse. After a few moments of silence he simply stated, “I don’t really have people to go home to.” Saihara didn’t press any further.

 

As the two of them made it to the untouched white field, Ouma immediately flung himself into the snow and disappeared. Saihara stood on the sidewalk wondering if he needed to go help the boy, only to have a snowball thrown at him when he eventually entered the field.. Fluffy, cold snow hit his cheek and sent a shiver down his spine. Ouma sat up in the snow laughing before having an equal sized snowball tossed back at him causing him to fall back down.

 

A small gust of wind blew through the field causing a bunch of snow tossed into the air. Saihara bent over and armed himself, readily knowing that Ouma wouldn’t be taken down so easy. He closed his eyes and listened for any signs. To the left, silence. To the right, silence. Behind, a very faint sound of snow crunching. Saihara quickly turned around, and flung a snowball right at Ouma only to have it dodged and a ball of snow shoved down his jacket.

 

Saihara let out a shriek and fell to the ground with a _poof_. He held his hands up over his head and laughed, his face flush from the cold air. “O-okay! You got me, Ouma-kun.”

 

Ouma stood over Saihara with a smug look on his face and declared that he was the best snowball fighter in the world. He then held out his hand to Saihara and helped him up. Saihara brushed off the snow from his jacket while Ouma was going on about how Saihara was the second best, and if anybody wanted to fight Saihara, they’d have to go through him. Saihara simply shook his head and commented about how that didn’t make any sense. The other boy flashed a grin and pulled Saihara back inside the dorm.

 

As they walked into the common room, they were taken back by a large tree that was stationed in the corner of the room. Akamatsu peaked her head out from behind the tree and waved the two boys over with a look of determination. When they got closer, carefully maneuvering around a plethora of Christmas decorations on their way, she shimmied her way away from the wall, and grabbed a box filled to the top with Christmas ornaments made by their class before the holiday break started. Some ranging from the classic bulb shape with unique designs to various handmade ones; for example, Gonta’s hyper-realistic Stag Beetle.

 

The three of them spent the afternoon decorating the common room, the tree, and the entrance to their dorm. Ouma managed to convince Akamatsu to let him place the star on the top of the tree, and with the help of Saihara’s shoulders, he fitted the sparkling golden star with a small giggle. Occasionally, Amami would pass by with an armful of groceries on his way to the kitchen where he was preparing dinner for tonight and tomorrow. Everybody would be lying if the smell didn’t get more enticing the later the day went on, and eventually it got the point where all three decorators found themselves in the kitchen begging Amami to make them some food. Initially, the Adventurer refused, saying there was going to be a huge dinner when his siblings got to the dorm, but once Ouma threatened to explode a pack of Panta in his room, he gave in remembering the last time someone doubted the leader’s threat.

 

While Ouma was literally looking over Amami’s shoulder as he was preparing stir fry, Akamatsu subtly excused herself and Saihara from the room and dragged him outside. She looked around nervously before leaning in, Saihara already knew where this was going and thankfully his face was already red from the cold air. He studied Akamatsu’s face as they stood in silence, her face indicating she was trying to find the best words.

 

After a minute of silence, she let out a long sigh and scratched her hair frantically before staring back at the detective with such intensity Saihara flinched. “Ahhh Geez! When are you going to ask him?” She blew on her hands to try to warm them up.

 

Saihara tipped his hat down to cover his eyes. “W-well you see, about tha—AH!”

 

Ouma shoved both glass doors wide open causing the two to jump apart.“Oi! Saihara-Chan! Akamatsu-chan! Amami-chan’s super-amazing feast is...ready?” Ouma looked between the two for a few seconds before putting on a impish grin. “Ohh? Am I interrupting something?” He started to wiggle his eyebrows at Saihara who sighed and told Ouma to knock it off.

 

Before anything else could be said, Akamatsu bolted pass Ouma and B-lined towards the kitchen shouting if they didn’t hurry, she would eat all the food. The two boys just looked at each other surprised before bursting into laughter as they followed.

 

* * *

 

After their meal, the four of them made their way to the common room. Everything was lit up with various colors, and the room was adorned with all sorts of Christmas decorations. On top of the fireplace were four Nutcrackers, painted to match the four students, with the exception of Ouma’s clown. Various stockings of different sizes and were stuck to the wall as if the wall itself was a tree itself, and the scent of cinnamon and peppermint encompassed the whole building from the abundance of food Amami had stored in the kitchen for later.

 

The group found themselves sitting on a couch watching a variety of Christmas Classics and enjoying cups of hot cocoa while waiting for Amami’s siblings to arrive. Despite having blankets of their own, Ouma was snuggled up next to Saihara despite his flustered protest, and Akamatsu was laying her head on Amami’s lap with her hands in the air playing along with each song. During Ouma’s unique cover of _‘This is Halloween’_ , the front door was suddenly assaulted by a force that could only be compared to a thousand suns.

 

While Akamatsu and Amami were greeting all the younger kids, Ouma decided to lay down, pulling Saihara down with him. As the sound of _pitter patter_ and various pitches of laughs filled the once silent dorm, lavender met gold with a hint of pink on each other’s face. As Saihara opened his mouth to say something, he felt a small, warm finger press across his lips. Ouma put his other index finger up to his mouth and let out a small hush. Saihara raised his eyebrow at the leader’s actions, but decided to follow his orders. After a few moments of silence, Ouma popped up from the couch and screamed, causing not only Saihara to scream, but also few kids who were walking by.

 

As Saihara sat up, he watched as Ouma messed with the hair of the two kids and laughing along with them. Saihara was caught off guard by the fact that Ouma’s laugh was much more genuine than the usual forced laugh he did around new people. It was actually really cute. The sound of the leader clapping his hands snapped Saihara out of his thoughts, and he watched all thirteen siblings quickly gather around the small leader.

 

Ouma was standing on a plastic box that was still filled with ornaments with his arms crossed across his chest. At the wave of his hand, one of the siblings he scared earlier brought a stack of papers to Ouma and quickly scurried back to the crowd. With a cough, Ouma held out one of the papers and smiled very excitedly. “If I could have your attention!” he shouted in a playful tone, “Amami-chan and Akamatsu-chan have graciously set up a game of Treasure Hunt for all of us to play together! And as for added incentive, whoever completes it first, gets a prize!” He threw the pages into the air and let them fall like confetti on top of children. After each kid got a hold of a sheet, Ouma began to explain the rules: Only pairs of two, No running in the hallways, No cheating, and most importantly, Have fun! He then dismissed all the kids with the snap of a confetti popper, and then promptly rushed over to Saihara waving his own sheet in the air.

 

“Sai-ha-ra-chan~!” Ouma sung as he held the sheet up paper up to Saihara’s face with a childish grin, “Let’s team up! With my amazing leader skills, and your detective skills, we’ll be able to finish in no time!”

 

“O-Ouma-kun, wouldn’t that be cheating?” Ouma tilted his head with a frown as if he was trying to compute Saihara’s question, “I-I mean didn’t you help them set it up? Obviously, you’d know where everything is...right?”

 

Tears started to form in Ouma’s eyes, and the per usual waterworks began. “WAHH! Saihara-chan doesn’t think I’m good enough for him!” The sudden outburst drew the attention of a few of the smaller kids, which resulted in Saihara pulling the smaller boy to his chest whose breath hitched the moment of impact. After a few moments of awkward silence and weird looks from passing children, Ouma pulled himself from Saihara’s grasp and stumbled backwards. “W-wow Saihara-chan!,” he stammered, trying to regain his composure, “I’ll have you know, hugging the Supreme Leaded is a great honor. So, you’re welcome!”

 

Saihara simply smiled at Ouma’s comment with a hum. He stood up and held out his hand for the sheet of paper, to which Ouma, surprisingly, willingly handed over. He brought his hand up to chin, a habit he developed while watching his Uncle work on cases at home, and reviewed the listed items. After discussing back and forth, they both agreed on try the third floor first, as it was the largest in terms of common space and contained many potential places to hide the treasures, and then they could work their way down.

 

As the two of them climbed the stairs, they happened to stumble across a pair of kids sitting at the entrance way of the second floor looking defeated and frustrated. Before Saihara could approach them, he saw a blur of purple walk right past him. Ouma squatted in front of the two with a grin and began to make hand gestures that immediately seemed to lighten the children’s moods. After a little bit, the two were soon dismissed when Ouma gave both of them a highfive, and the leader skipped back over to Saihara. They resumed their hunt as if nothing happened, but Saihara couldn’t help but think that Ouma interacting with the children in a kind manner was somewhat endearing.

 

They eventually found the last item, a goldfish plushie, hidden on the first floor behind the Christmas tree, but when Saihara suggest they turn in their form, Ouma insisted they go get some hot cocoa and walk around the dorm together. Despite Ouma saying he just wanted a drink with his ‘beloved’, Saihara smiled knowing that Ouma was trying to stall for the younger kids and played along. They went from bugging Amami, who was busy setting up the dinner, to lock picking Akamatsu’s door only to find her wrapping a large mound of presents. Saihara quickly pulled Ouma out of her room with a swift apology.

 

An hour later, Saihara watched as Ouma stood in the middle dramatically crying with a few others as another pair of kids received their prizes. He then promptly turned to the other children with tears still in his eyes and told them that next time they will surely win, which earned a loud uproar of agreement from the siblings. Saihara smiled at Ouma’s ability to know exactly how to change the mood for the better; Saihara couldn’t help but think Ouma really was the Ultimate Supreme Leader while watching the children rally around the purple haired boy. There was no hidden agenda, no alternative plans, just urge to make people smile and have fun.

 

Saihara stood up and helped Ouma distribute the rest of the prizes to the kids because, according to the leader, ‘Everybody is a winner!’. Once they finished, Amami poked his head out from the dining room and announced that everything was ready. Saihara simply waved Ouma to go ahead with the children since he needed to go get Akamatsu. The smaller boy raised his eyebrow, but simply nodded and ran off to join the kids in the kitchen.

 

Saihara sighed as he made his way to the Pianist’s room. He knocked the door soft, and the Mozart that was playing in the room promptly stopped. The door opened and Saihara wasn’t sure if it was the fact that he probably looked like a nervous reck, but Akamatsu gave him a warm smile and hugged him.“I’m sure he will be ecstatic.” Saihara let out a quiet sob at her words and nodded as she comforted him.

 

Once they entered the kitchen, Saihara’s face was met with a pumpkin pie being flung at his face, a very distinct laugh, Akamatsu’s words filled with worry, and some shouting from Amami. As the pie slid down from his face, he smiled at the leader and the boy immediately stopped laughed and slowly got off the table with a small “shit”. Saihara went for the small stack of pies that were stacked on a side table, while the other boy went for the door. The next thing everybody knew, the room was filled with pie and laughter. Well, except for Amami, who was in the corner crying over the loss of his food.

 

Once they cleaned up the mess, the children were filed into their rooms by both Amami and Akamatsu, and soon, the house fell into silence. Saihara laid awake looking at the ceiling, the analog clock’s ticking only seeming to get louded by the second. He couldn’t help but wonder what Ouma would be like as a father as the scenes of the boy’s kindness towards the kids played in his head. He closed his eyes hoping to subside the growing amount of anxiety in his chest.

 

* * *

 

Saihara was woken up by loud screaming and multiple feet running down the hallway. He rubbed his eyes, and looked at the box that was still in his hand and smiled. He was surprised the little leader didn’t come and wake him up, but considering the holiday he could understand. He stuffed the presents into a bag and threw on an overly large navy jacket. He made his way to the common room, to only be dragged by both Akamatsu and Ouma to the couch. He watched as the children around them all opened up their presents with such excitement that it reminded him of when his Uncle bought him some Jr.Detective Kit back in middle school. The same kit lives on his desk in his room as a reminder of how thankful he was of his Uncle’s support.

 

Once the kids were done opening their presents and were outside playing in the snow, Akamatsu waved over the small group to a corner with bags in hand. They cleared the couch of wrapping paper and tape and exchanged gifts. While Amami and Akamatsu were trying to figure out how to wearing their matching bracelets, Ouma shoved his gift into Saihara’s face with a grin, “Hand picked for my beloved himself!” The detective slowly pulled away vibrant purple wrapping paper to reveal a navy blue notepad and a beautiful golden pen to which Ouma commented that it matched his eyes. When he opened the notebook, he was met with a small note on the first page that was specifically written for him in a brilliant cobalt ink to serve as a daily reminder from the leader himself.

 

_‘Remember Saihara-chan, you really are the Ultimate Detective. You can do it!’_

 

His heart fluttered at the words written in a very distinct loopy handwriting and tears threatened to fall, but before he let his emotions get the better of him, Saihara quickly handed his own gift to Ouma who tore away the paper to reveal a small book titled ‘101 Ways to Hatch a Diabolical Plan’. Ouma broke out into a fit of childish laughed only to be cut short when he turned the first page. Saihara subtly hid his eyes behind his bangs.

 

_‘Just in case you need a little motivation._

_P.S: Meet me outside later tonight, there is something more that I have for you. Sincerely, Saihara-chan’_

 

Ouma’s eyes traveled between the page to Saihara and back to the page, only to realize that the detective was now crying. Before he could say anything, Amami and Akamatsu quickly ran over and asked what happened. Saihara simply laughed as explanation betrayed the visible emotion. The two looked at Ouma, who simply smiled and played along with the act, knowing that this was their little secret to keep.

 

* * *

 

The dorm was silent as the children were all passed out in the common room from playing outside in the snow all day. Akamatsu was placing various blankets on top of them as Amami and Saihara were walking around and cleaning up leftover wrapping paper and tissue paper. Saihara looked at the clock that was surrounded by a large wreath and quickly threw away a wad of paper into a large trash can.

 

“A-ah. I’m sorry Akamatsu-san...Amami-kun! I need to go do something.” He headed towards the stairwell; his heart beating faster and faster with each step. Amami opened his mouth to say something, but Akamatsu placed her hand on his shoulder and shook her head.

 

Saihara slowly slid open the door to the second floor balcony and flinched at the gust of cold air that sent shivers down his spine. He stood there for what seemed like an eternity, until a familiar purple haired boy walked outside and shut the door. Ouma peered up at Saihara with his large lavender eyes and already rosy cheeks.

 

“So, what do I owe this pleasure of secretly meeting Saihara-chan for?” Ouma questioned as he placed his hands behind his head and grinned, “Oh! Maybe Saihara-chan is going to confess his undying love for me! But that’s probably a lie, i’ve seen how he ac—”

 

“Ouma.” The other boy stopped mid sentence and brought his hands back to his sides and stared at the detective who was bright red. “J-just please hear me out, okay,” Saihara pleaded softly. Ouma simply stood there with a confused expression and slowly nodded.

 

Saihara took a deep breath, “The truth is, the book that I gave you this morning was just to hold you over ‘till now. We’ve been friends...well I think you consider me a friend..but besides the point. We’ve known each other for sometime now, and during our time together I’ve always been interested in you..” Ouma opened his mouth to comment, but quick shut it in fear of messing up and letting his hope get the better of him.

 

“I- I just...I know you have spent the better half of our time here at Hope’s Peak Academy asking me out and saying you love me, but I never knew if you were being sincere or not. But these last few days show me just how amazing of a person you are and how important you are to me.” Saihara lowered his gaze as well as his voice, “Ouma-kun would you go out with me?” Before anything else could be said, Saihara rushed over to the other boy and pulled him into a kiss.

 

When the two finally detached, both of them were breathless. Saihara looked at Ouma in hopes of response, but instead of the expected smug expression, the other boy was crying. Not the fake crocodile tears that Saihara had grown accustomed to, but genuine tears that made Saihara panic. “D-did I do something wrong?” he said as he stepped back and headed for the door, “I-i’m so sorry Ouma-kun, it was wrong of me to—”

 

Ouma grabbed Saihara by the sleeve and pulled the detective back and returned the kiss. Saihara began to sob as he wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and felt Ouma do the same. Between sniffles, Ouma looked Saihara in the eyes and smiled, “You did nothing wrong Saihara-chan. I just didn’t think this would ever happen, that i’d ever be as happy as I am now. That’s all.”

 

* * *

 

_Present Day, WacDonald_

 

Saihara stares down at his ring finger which has a small golden band around it. According to Akamatsu, there is a vein that runs from the finger to the heart; therefore, it is a sign that the barers of the rings will forever be connected heart-to-heart. Despite everything the the two of them had gone through the last five years, Saihara wouldn’t want to spend his life with anybody else besides his fiance, Ouma Kokichi. He would never forget the faces of Amami and Akamatsu when they saw the two boys emerge from the same room the next day; Amami’s look of disbelief and embarrassment and Akamatsu’s face of pure joy.

 

A car suddenly pulls up to the speaker, and Saihara sighs. If only he didn’t have to spend his time here at a fastfood restaurant. He pressed the button to speak, “Welcome to—” Before he could finish his sentence, he hears a very intimidating and familiar voice on the other side of the speaker.

 

“ ** _Saihara-kun, where the hell did Ouma-kun and Momota-kun go?_** ” Harukawa growls as she stares directly into the camera sending shivers down Saihara’s spine with her murderous intent.

 

Saihara gulps, and presses down the button again, “W-what did they do this time, Harukawa-san?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for making it this far!  
> I would like to give a special thanks to HikariTranslations for helping me with this story in particular! If you are a fan of Oumasai and like to read manga, go check out their tumblr! <3  
> Also P.S The intro is based off this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY0egGzALQY (IM DYING IT SOS FUNNY)


	3. drunken memories (College!AU part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maki isn't good with feelings.

All her life, Maki never expected to fall in love.

 

She also never thought that she’d fall in love with an  _ absolute idiot. _

 

Pulling the handbrake up, she parks her car and steps out of it. Reaching for her phone in her purse, she unlocks it and pulls up her recent-calls list and calls the first one.

 

“ _H-hello? Maki?_ ”

 

“ _YO IS THAT MY MAKI ROLL—_ ”

 

“ _K-Kaito, you’re hurting my ears.._ ”

 

Wincing slightly from the loud club music ( _ who even plays All Star in the year 2028?) _ and Kaito’s yelling, Maki pulls the phone away from her ear and sets it to speaker mode instead. She likes having a sense of hearing, and she doesn’t want Kaito to ruin it.

 

“Yeah, It’s me. I’m outside the entrance. Try to drag Kaito out, Shuuichi. I’ll be waiting.”

 

With that, she ends the call and leans back against the hood of her car. Going back to her previous thoughts, she never thought she’d fall in love with, out of all people, Kaito Momota. He was loud, headstrong, stupidly stubborn, and said things without thinking. Oh, not to mention, he was also extremely cowardly.

 

But despite those traits, he was also  _ kind,  _ positive, and always ready to lend a hand when people needed help. Not to mention, he was one of the best at encouraging people. Put him and Kaede together and they could beat a cheerleading team.

 

To simply put it, he was everything Maki was not.

 

_ So why did he choose her out of everyone he could have chosen? _

 

Before her thoughts could run wild, a loud crash broke her out of her trance. She turns around to see Shuichi carrying, or at  _ attempting _ to carry, a  _ very drunk _ Kaito over his shoulder. Shuichi catches her eye and she immediately picks up on his plea for help. He… didn’t look very sober as well.

 

Maki walks over, takes Kaito’s other arm, and slings it over her shoulder. This catches the taller man’s attention, and Maki swears she can see his eyes light up. 

 

“ _ Maki woll~!  _ I haven’t seen you since you left for work!”

 

“Kaito, that was 6 hours ago. We saw each other before that.”

 

“But 6 hours is  _ too long _ to be without my  _ Maki woll _ !”

 

Ignoring the heat rising to her face and Shuichi’s laugh, she tosses the drunk man into the backseat of her car while Shuichi puts himself in the passenger seat. Ignoring Kaito’s whining, she slips into driver’s seat and starts the engine. She quickly glances between the two boys and then drives away from the club.

 

-

 

While heading for Shuichi’s apartment, the sounds of the radio and Kaito’s incoherent mumbling fills up the car.

 

“So how did Kaito even convince you to a guys’ night out?”  Maki breaks the awkward silence between her and Saihara with a question. 

 

Shuichi laughs nervously. “I’ve been so busy with work and assignments that I haven’t really had the time to spend time with him. I felt a little bad.”

 

“That kindness of yours will kill you one day.” Maki makes a sharp left turn, smiling slightly when she hears Kaito’s yelp.

 

“I know, I know… but he is one of my best friends. It’s hard to say no to him.”

 

Maki knows that all too well. “True. He’s really stubborn.”

 

The silence fills the car again, until they reach Shuichi’s apartment.  Unbuckling his seatbelt, Shuichi turns to Maki with a grateful look on his face, “Thank you so much, Maki. For driving me back and all.” The brunette fiddles with her hair. “Don’t mention it. Thanks for keeping the idiot company.”

 

Getting out of the car and stretching, Shuichi opens the backseat of the car to say goodbye to his friend. “Kaito, I have to go now— OOF!”

 

His sentence is cut short when the taller man jumps and locks him in a tight grip. Maki turns around in time to witness both of them land unceremoniously on the ground.

 

Shuichi slowly stands up with Kaito clinging to him. He tries with all his might to get out of the hug but to no avail. He looks up and sends Maki yet another plea for help. She sighs and gets out of the driver’s seat. Going to the other side of the car, she leans down and tries to pull Shuichi away from Kaito.

 

He doesn’t budge.

 

They try a few more times, and by the eighth time, Maki’s wheezing.  _ When the hell did he get so strong?! _

 

“I.. I don’t think this is going to work, Maki.” Shuuichi cries slightly out of breath. “Um.. how about this? Lock your car and come up to my apartment? We could get Kokichi to help.” She bristles slightly at the mention of the purple gremlin, but she reluctantly agrees. “Better three people than two. Can you walk up with him clinging to you? 4 floors up, right?”

 

Shuichi takes a look at the building and then at Kaito.

 

“Let’s take the elevator.”

 

* * *

Wheezing, Shuichi leans against the door of his apartment. It was hard to walk, especially when a drunk astronaut-to-be was clinging to him.

 

Maki crosses her arms, eyeing the entrance to his apartment. Shuichi’s and Kokichi’s shoes were neatly lined up on the shoe rack, and there were a pair of umbrellas in the umbrella stand. In front of the door was a purple mat and a welcome sign that reads “ _ Not-welcome to our house. Please do not make yourself at home. It will cost you your life! _ ”

 

If she ignores the sign, everything looks very… homely. She’d expected more chaos, especially when it came to Kokichi Ouma. The short man was the living version of a tornado, bringing trouble everywhere he went.

 

Shuichi knocks on the door in a specific rhythm. Maki supposes it’s their passcode, but they should have picked something better than fucking  _ Despacito _ .

 

Maki hears a faint “ _ Coming, my beloved prince Charming!”  _ and she has to stifle a laugh. She can hear the several locks clicking and the bolts being pulled. The door opens to Kokichi poking his head out and smiling brightly when he sees Shuichi.

 

“Welcome home, my beloved piece of sushi-” He cuts himself off, when he sees Kaito clinging to Shuichi and Maki behind them. His expression becomes blank.

 

“Oh. The sushi’s gone bad.”

 

Shuichi offers a nervous smile and chuckle. “Long story. I’ll explain later, but for now, let us in and help us?”

 

It takes a minute, but Kokichi smiles once more. “Sure! Come on in, I totally haven’t set traps all over the place!” He opens the door wider. “But that’s a lie! Nishishi!” 

Rolling her eyes slightly, Maki goes in after Shuichi manages to fit him and Kaito through the door. 

 

It takes her by surprise. It’s quite neat, with minimalistic furniture. There’s a white sofa, a crystal-clear coffee table and a flat-screen TV in the living room. In the corner, there’s a bookcase filled with novels of all kinds and two computers next to each other. The kitchen island is huge and is entirely marble, and in that moment, she starts to wonder just how truly loaded Shuichi was. Sure, there’s a bit of Kokichi everywhere too. The checkered handkerchiefs, the checkered rugs, the checkered salt and pepper shakers. But the minimalism screams ‘Shuichi’.

 

She turns and faces the shorter purple-haired man. “Kokichi, I need you to help me get Kaito off Shuichi.”

 

“And why should I? What’s in it for me?” Kokichi tilts his head, almost in a playful manner.

 

Maki sighs. “Because if you don’t, you’ll be sleeping with not only Shuichi, but also Kaito.”

 

_ “Kokichi Ouma, at your service _ !” It’s almost funny how quickly Kokichi changed his mind when she said that. They both get to work, Kokichi pulling Shuichi and Maki’s pulling Kaito. They try, and they try again. 

 

“H-hey… Maki.. I don’t think we’re getting anywhere...and that’s not a lie..” Kokichi is wheezing, and even Maki can see that he’s tired. 

 

Shuichi speaks up. “I-I don't mind sleeping with Kaito, Ouma, I don’t think you’ll be able to pull him off. He’s as clingy as you when we watch horror movies.”

 

For the first time in her life, she sees Ouma look slightly affronted at Shuichi’s sudden bluntness, and although Maki would love to take a photo of this moment, she decides to butt in. “Shuichi’s as drunk as Kaito, though I do think he’s got a better handle on it than Kaito does.”

 

When Maki mentions the words ‘Shuichi’ and ‘drunk’, she sees a flicker of worry on the shorter man’s face. But before she can say anything, the astronaut-to-be perks up at the mention of his name, but pouts at the rest of Maki’s statement. “Maki roll is being mean!  _ Shuichiiiii, my girlfriend is being mean to me! _ ” 

 

Maki ignores the heat rising to her face and looks away, grabbing on a few strands of her hair as she does so. “Shut up. Kokichi, can we just.. get these two to bed? It’s 3am, I don’t have strength to deal with this.”

 

“Yeah. Yeah, sure. Here, Shuichi, help me guide the dumbstronaut to the bedroom.” Kokichi’s sudden compliance surprises her. “Maki, I’ll handle this. You take a seat on the couch.” 

 

With that, he helps Shuichi and Kaito get to the bedroom, leaving Maki standing there still taken aback. 

 

_ Kokichi has never been one to comply.  _

 

Maki shakes her head and lets her eyes wander off to the balcony. As if it was automatic, she walks over to the sliding door and pushes it open. She must be spending too much time with Kaito because one look at the night sky instantly calms her down. She rests her arms on the railing and lets her mind drift away for a bit.

 

The sound of the doors sliding open snaps her out of whatever daydream she was stuck in and she turns around. She comes face to face with Kokichi holding two mugs of what seemed to be... coffee? How long has she been daydreaming?

 

Maki raises an eyebrow, and Kokichi shrugs, the liquid in the cups sloshes around as he does so. “It’s nearly 4am, and you shouldn’t be driving this late. Why not stay the night?”

 

“.... what’s with the sudden hospitality?” She carefully takes one of the mugs and silently revels in the warmth. The shorter of the two leans back against the sliding door and starts slowly sliding down to the floor. “Who knows? Nishishi~”

 

Maki rolls her eyes and takes a seat next to Kokichi, folding her legs underneath her. They sit and sip their coffee in silence, staring at the lights of the city. 

 

“Hey, Maki?” Kokichi places his mug down and hugs his knees.

 

Maki doesn’t move. “.. hm?” 

 

“Thanks for taking care of Shuichi earlier.” Kokichi looks away, seemingly embarrassed.

 

“Okay, first things first. Stop that, I’m not used to you being not annoying.” She can see Kokichi pout from the corner of her eye but she continues on, “And secondly, Shuichi is my friend. It’s really not a problem.” She pauses and turns her head away. “And I guess you can say this is my way of saying thanks.”

 

“... Huh?” Kokichi looks genuinely confused.

 

“During our first year finals. Kaito was overworking himself and had collapsed in one of the labs. You were the one who found him and had Gonta help you bring him to the nurse’s infirmary. For some reason, you told Mikan to say that Gonta had carried him there alone. Mikan told me the truth when I arrived at the infirmary.” Maki says, all the while focusing on looking at everything but Kokichi’s face.

 

There’s another beat of silence before Maki hears what seems to be slight laughter. She turns around and stares at Kokichi, who has his usual grin on.  _ “ _ I’ll be honest for once. This whole being honest thing doesn’t suit us.”

 

Maki smiles slightly. “It really doesn’t.”

 

_"_ But regarding that Kaito thing... you’re welcome. Despite how annoying he is to me, he’s still Shuichi’s best friend and my classmate. I don’t leave anyone behind.”

 

Maki nods. “The same for Shuichi. You were probably worried that something bad could have happened to him in that state.”

 

_ “ _ Heh. You can figure me out. I’m losing my reputation here.”

 

“You never had one to begin with.”

 

“ _ Rude.” _

 

The silence that usually ensues them is one that’s awkward, but tonight, it seems to be one that is comfortable.

 

They spend the rest of the night outside bantering, and while Maki still wanted to occasionally throw Ouma off the balcony, she now considers the shorter man a friend. 

 

After managing to get out of Kaito’s grip, Shuichi decides to not say anything when he finds the two huddled next to each other the next morning. As he places a blanket over them, he smiles to himself knowing that his boyfriend finally opened up to someone else and gained a new friend.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: i want to make maki yeet ouma off the balcony  
> cho: i need my yeet
> 
> i hope you enjoyed this chapter!! while i know they both would never act like this, a girl can't help but dream. sorry for the lack of oumasai, but cho will send that your way next chapter~ she is amazing and deserves love uwu check out her beautiful oumasai art as well!! her tumblr is littlestclown and for average oumasai art, my tumblr is elysiannpeaches!!


	4. Water plants (Crack!AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saihara just wanted to water his plants only to find he wasn't alone. He would be fine with that if it wasn't for the fact he lived on the 18th floor. 
> 
> what.
> 
> Short dabble based on a random prompt Elysian found online xD

It was a nice, warm Saturday morning when Saihara decided to water some plants on his balcony. He made his way to a pair of glass doors with a metal watering can in hand and eyed a bunch of Coral Roses that were swaying happily in their blue clay pot. The way the flowers managed to be perky on a hazy morning reminded him of the individual who gave them to him. Saihara received the flowers as a thanks-for-attending gift on the day of his friend’s wedding, and he wanted to keep them alive for as long as possible. 

 

As he slid open the doors, the hot, humid air rushed towards his face causing him to wince. While he surveyed the already bustling city, he began to wonder if they actually got any sleep. He walked towards the plants that were placed on top of a white plastic table, and while he emptied the watering can, he closed his eyes to listen to the sounds around him. Cars honking, people talking, the annoyingly loud ads, someone snoring... _ Wait, someone snoring?! _

 

Saihara’s eyes snapped towards the source of the sound and found a very familiar purple-haired boy sitting in the far corner of his balcony. “O-Ouma-kun?!” Saihara figured the other boy was asleep by the fact he jumped when the watering can hit the ground with a loud  _ THUNK _ ! 

 

Ouma stared at Saihara wide eyed for a bit before throwing on a toothy grin when he realized where he was, “Ah! Saihara-chan~ It’s good to see you again!” The smaller boy jumped to his feet and leaned over the railing pretending to sightsee, “Such a great view you have out here!”

 

Saihara sighed and slowly picked up the watering can. “Why are you here? No, more importantly,  _ how _   did you get up here? I live on the eighteenth floor, and I know for a fact you didn’t come from inside.” Ouma hummed at the other boy’s questions.

 

“Please just tell me.” Saihara set the can on top of the table and pulled out one of the chairs. He rubbed his temples as he sat down. God, he already had a headache. 

 

“Nope!”

 

“Kokichi.” 

 

Ouma dramatically spun around the other chair and sat with the back of the chair facing Saihara. He rested his elbows on the white plastic and pouted, “C’mon  _ Shuichi _ , can’t I just stop by and say hello without being questioned? It’s almost like you take joy in interrogating me.” Saihara shot him a glare. “ _ Fine _ , if you must know, my subordinates wanted to try out a new stealth jet, so I had them drop me off here as they test ran it. Can’t have the leader injured if things go bad, ya know?”

 

“What?” 

 

Ouma laughed a little at Saihara’s response and brought his index finger to his mouth and smirked. “Or maybe that was a lie.”

 

Saihara knew that Ouma was the leader of an underground organization, but he didn’t know much outside of the name. Before he could question further, the other boy was already climbing over the balcony railing. “A-Ah! WAIT! KOKICHI?!” The other boy jumped off as his name was shouted, and Saihara bolted towards the metal bars in a panic. 

 

Just below the balcony was Ouma, but he had sprouted a pair of wings and was floating there laughing his ass off. “Nishishi~ You should see your face right now, it’s priceless. Anyways, it’s seems like I have accomplished my goal here. Even if it was for only a moment, I was the only thing on your mind~” Saihara squinted.

 

“Anyways Saihara-chan~ I must take my leave! I’ll see you another time~” The leader flew off towards the city while dramatically blowing kisses towards a very dumbstruck Saihara.

 

“What the actual fuck.”

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no words for this really.  
> yeah.  
> Thanks Hika for proof reading <3  
> I'll post something serious next time, I swear xD


	5. Not all mistakes are bad (Author Saihara!AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saihara is an upcoming best-selling author, but he often finds himself staying up till the weee hours of the morning working. He decides to share his work with his editor, only to be met with an unexpected surprise.   
> Saihara is me during the summer. What is the outside?

Reaching for his cup of probably cold mint tea, Saihara Shuichi lets out a tired sigh. He stares at the clock on his desk and takes a long sip before turning his attention back towards the bright screen in front of him. He leans back into his black cushioned arm-chair and runs a hand through his raven-colored hair. All his life, he wanted to become a best-selling murder mystery novelist, but once he managed to achieve his dream a few years back, he quickly found that the job was a lot more demanding than he originally thought. Even though Saihara enjoyed the free excuse of staying home alone, the deadlines were going to be the end of him. 

 

After a few moment of zoning out, Saihara decides to share his work with his editor and attempt to at least get five hours of sleep. He stands up slowly and stretches his legs. He proceeds to fling himself on top of his blue and white-striped bed. While his apartment was small in comparison to the bustling city outside, it was enough considering he didn’t move much from his work area. 

 

Saihara slowly climbs under the covers, and lets his eyes finally rest after a long day glued to the same screen. He begins to work out the next murder in his novel only to soon find himself consumed by a reoccurring dream, a detective who was chasing a charming phantom thief.

 

After an excruciating long chase, Saihara finds himself trapped with the thief in an underground prison cell. The moment he makes a move to unmask the mysterious man, an alarm sounds. He jumps and immediately scans the cell to find the source, but all he can see is rusted metal and dirt walls. He turns to face the thief once more, but is met with the grey ceiling of his room. 

 

Saihara laid face up in his bed, slowly coming to terms with the fact that the ringing was coming from his very friendly alarm clock and not some life threatening situation. He eventually drags himself out from under his covers, slightly shivering at how cold his room was, and grabs a large, blue sweater that was hanging on his door. The words “Best Author!” were printed in the front per request of his old highschool friend Akamatsu, a person who was the literal definition of a one-women cheerleading squad. 

 

Hoping that his editor left at least a few helpful comments, Saihara slips back into his chair and opens up his laptop. Not to say his editor was not good at his job, but the long black-haired man had the habit of relating different elements of the story to the some anthropological discovery instead of giving him ‘helpful’ advice. 

 

When the page finally loads, Saihara is greeted by a multitude of purple corrections and side comments. At first, Saihara is relieved to finally have hit one of his editors ‘good’ days, but the farther he scrolls down, he realizes he made a huge mistake. Near the climax of the story, the messages start to turn more silly; some even having hearts and tildas at the ends of them. He quickly pulls up the share tab, and his face goes bright red. Under the ‘Who has access’ was ‘CockichiOwoma@Ymail.c0m’, also known as, Ouma Kokichi. The same boy that Saihara had a crush on since the beginning of high school.

 

While the two had remained friends even after graduating, Saihara always regretted the fact he never mustered up the courage to ask the boy out. Partially for the fact that it wouldn’t be received well by his family, but also for the fact the boy himself was so elusive. Even though they kept in touch, they hardly found the time to meet in person, and their messages were more business like than an actual conversation. Saihara usually went to Ouma for help with ideas for the cases in his novels, but he realizes that he never actually let the other read a draft. 

 

When he reaches the bottom of the document, there is a bolded paragraph of purple text.  **‘** **_I know sharing this with me was a mistake, but I really did enjoy it! And before you make THAT face, i’m not lying :D ! This story is suuuuuper well written, and i’m glad that you took my advice_ ** **_even though I was kidding._ ** **_Hopefully, you’ll share more of your super-amazing works with me in the future!’_ **

 

Saihara stares at his screen as he swears the room magically got 100 degrees hotter. Logically speaking, getting the other boys opinion would help make his work go faster, but he couldn’t help but wheeze at that thought. After mulling over whether or not he should get in contact with the boy, Saihara reaches for his phone and pulls up Ouma’s contact information. He stares at the small circular image of the boy, the cheeky smirk seemed to mock him the longer he stared. 

 

_ Just like Ouma to taunt me when he isn't even here _ . Saihara squints and quickly taps the green call button.

  
  


_Bzz Bzz._ _Pause. Bzz Bzz._

 

Saihara taps his desk nervously and keeps telling himself that this was a bad idea. Maybe Ouma is busy in a meeting; he can always call back later. His thoughts are immediately shoved to the side when an overly enthusiastic voice shouts, “OH! Saihara-chan!! Have you finally called me to confess your undying feelings for me??” Ouma exaggerates the ‘e’ before breaking out into his signature horse-like laugh, “Nishishi~ I kid~ Anyways, what’s up? Did you enjoy my comments last night! I swear Saihara-chan, you have to get more sleep! How are you supposed to record my evil crimes when you are half asleep?!” 

 

Saihara takes a deep breath to gather his confidence. “Yeah, I really appreciate them Ouma-kun. I can’t thank you enough.” His comment seemed to surprise the other boy as he heard the other boy’s breath hitch. “I-I uhhh was wondering if you’d be free to talk about my novel in person over coffee tomorrow...or something…” He trails off.

 

There is a moment of silence before Ouma sighs; Saihara can hear the creak of Ouma’s chair as he leans back. “I’m a busy man Saihara Shuichi. I have meetings all day and people to boss around,  _ and _ the only time I can blow off work is for something important.”

 

Saihara’s heart sinks at the other boy’s words, “Ah right,” he laughs nervously, “I’m rea—”

 

“So what time tomorrow do you want to meet?”

 

“EAH?!” Saihara practically screams into the phone.

 

“I said what time do you want to meet? Getting to help you write your next big hit is waaay more important than meeting with some old geezer who insists the world is flat! Plus…” Ouma’s voice gets lower and  _ softer? _ “I really mean it when I said I enjoyed what you wrote last night.”

 

Saihara’s heart starts to run marathons and tears start rolling down his bright red cheeks.“Thank you so much Ouma-kun! I really couldn’t have done it without your suggestion.” He wipes them away while chuckling, “so, does 11:30 at Tojo’s Diner work?”

 

“Nishishi~ Sounds like a date!” Ouma exclaims in a childish tone before breaking out in a fit of giggles. Saihara still wonders how Ouma was able to become a CEO of one of the most influential businesses in Japan. A majority of his highschool and college days were usually spent messing with people and skipping classes, but then again, he did hold some of the highest scores on exams. Like his uncle always told him, can’t judge a book by its cover, and Ouma was definitely one of those books. While his exterior was childish and carefree, he was really meek and smart once you got to know him. 

 

The sound of a door shutting and Ouma mumbling something to the other person in the room brought Saihara out of his thoughts. “Welp! Looks like i’m getting called into another meeting.” He can hear the sound of disappointment in his voice, “I’ll see you tomorrow Shuichi!” 

 

“Yeah, see you tomorrow...Kokichi.” There is a small beep, and Saihara can’t help but smile to himself as he pulls the phone away from his ear. He laughs happily as he sets his phone back down on the desk. Turning towards the screen and cracking his knuckles, Saihara smirks. Time to write the best murder mystery of the century. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look! Something that isn't a crack fic *mindblown*  
> Thanks again Hika for proofing this <3  
> Thank you so much for reading <3


	6. Burnt Ramen (Crack & Detective! AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saihara and Ouma have been living together for the last five years. Being both accomplished detectives, Saihara trusted his boyfriend with almost any task; however, he overlooked the side effects of the long nights.

Five years had passed since Ouma and Saihara had officially come out as a couple to their group of friends. After months of planning, and convincing Harukawa to stop threatening to kill Ouma, they decided to move in together after graduating from Hope’s Peak University. With the help of Tsumugi, they rented a small apartment close to their workplace. 

 

It was a well-known detective agency, which allowed them to gain an extra hour of sleep compared to when they were attending school. Sadly, while they were both detectives focused solely on homicide, they hardly ever got assigned to the same case; Ouma often joke it was because they were  _ the _ “Dynamic Duo”. 

  
  


After working restlessly for a week, Saihara finally managed to give closure to a mother who had lost her spouse a decade ago, as well as give himself an evening off. Unfortunately, Ouma was on the final stretch to closing his own case, and bothering his boyfriend at such an important stage of an investigation was the last thing he wanted to do. He eventually decided on catching up on a series of murder mystery novels that he had received as a graduation present from Akamatsu. According to her, there was some  _ big _ plot twist at the ending that she really disliked, and she requested that Saihara give his own opinion when he got around to it.

  
  


Before sitting down in his rustic-red Victorian reading chair, he prepared a cup of peppermint tea in the kitchen. He carefully placed the checkered-patterned mug next to a stack of papers on Ouma’s desk, and silently made his way back to the brown leather-bound books. Occasionally, the  _ clack  _ of the mug being placed back on the table would draw his attention, and he ended up spending a few moments looking at his usually mischievous and boisterous boyfriend quietly hum to himself as he read over the case evidence. Saihara smiled softly.

  
  


After a few hours, Saihara closed the final book with a long, disappointed sigh; he was definitely going to give Akamatsu a long handwritten review tomorrow. As he stood up, he pulled out his phone and figured he should probably head to bed. He stretched his back and arms, and walked over to Ouma, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy’s waist. He rested his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder and peered at the files that were laid out messily on the table. “Looks like this is a tough one,” he gently chuckled. 

  
  


Ouma put down the pieces of paper that he had in his hand and closed his eyes as he leaned back into Saihara’s shoulder. “Nah, it’s  _ suuuper _ obvious who the culprit is. The only issue is finding the key evidence to convict them. Like seriously, “ Ouma danced his left hand on the table until he found the paper he was looking for, “I have to give this suspect the award for the most red flags someone can have,” he giggled. 

  
  


Saihara released his grip, leaned in and gave the purple-haired boy a kiss on the forehead.

He sluggishly made his way to the kitchen and pulled out a package of instant ramen as well as a bowl from the cupboard. “Seems like you’ll be working late tonight, so I left some ramen out on the counter in case you get hungry later.” 

  
  


“Thanks, Shuichi~” Ouma sung as the raven-haired boy made his way to their bedroom with a wave.

  
  


Once he saw the bedroom lights turn off, Ouma picked up a piece of paper in one hand and a bright purple pen in the other. He began to draw circles and squiggles between the evidence, scratching out the paragraphs he deemed “useless”, until there were only three paragraphs left, all circled in neon-purple ink. In three dramatic strokes, he drew a line connecting the circles to the suspects picture and smirked. A lot of people criticized him for his messy approach to solving cases, but after years of working alongside Saihara and Kirigiri, he found this approach much more effective than rewriting the important facts in an orderly fashion like the two of them did. Honestly, the faces of the criticizers when Ouma was awarded his first honor for superior problem solving would be a moment he would never forget. 

  
  


After carefully organizing the papers in their respective folders, he pushed back his chair and stood up. If it wasn’t for the fact he could hardly keep his eyes open at this point, he would have drawn a small chibi version of himself doing a finger gun next to the suspect’s picture. 

 

_ God, he was so tired.  _

 

As he made his way to the bedroom, his stomach growled when he passed the ramen package Saihara had left out. Ouma let out a small sigh and grabbed the red plastic that had a silly drawing of a brick of noodles doing a peace sign and emptied its contents into a light-blue bowl. He set the timer for three minutes, and then sat down at their small island. He laid his head down on his arms and closed his eyes. 

 

…

…

...

 

“ _ KOKICHI?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! WHAT HAPPENED?! _ ” 

 

Ouma jerked awake at Saihara’s panic-filled voice He lifted his head up and was immediately hit with the strong smell of something burning. He turned his attention towards the microwave, which was quite literally filled to the brim with smoke; he couldn’t even  _ see _ the contents inside. 

  
  


The two of them rushed over to the microwave and stared at it for a bit. Saihara finally reached for the door and opened it. After swatting away the cloud of smoke that came rushing out, he reached in and pulled out the same light-blue bowl from before. He looked down inside the bowl before looking back up with the most disappointed, tired look on his face. “Ouma…” he whispered and tilted the bowl so the other could see it, “You forgot the water...”

  
  


Ouma peered at the blackened noodles with a very quiet, “ _ oh _ .”

  
  


Saihara tossed the contents of the bowl into the waste bin and let out a long sigh. “Remind me to make it for you next time. “ He laughed silently and pulled another package from the cupboard. 

 

_ “But seriously, how did you forget the water…?” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ILL WRITE SOMETHING SERIOUS NEXT  
> I SWEAR LMAO...nah, who am i kidding LOL I love crack!AU's xD  
> This is based off a prompt Elysianpeaches gave me after we both saw an image of burnt ramen. I feel bad for those people...and the microwave xD


	7. shot through the heart, you're to blame (undercover!AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short drabble of an AU where the V3 cast are an organization working against the Remnants of Despair. Saihara and Ouma decide to go undercover and infiltrate the Remnants, who willingly (and stupidly) take them under their wing. The problem is, the V3 cast genuinely think they're brainwashed.

* * *

The sound of a gunshot echoes in Ouma's ears.  
  
It's kind of weird how he's so calm about being shot but then again, he's always kind of expected that Harukawa would be the one to take his life.  
  
He awaits the oncoming bullet, memories of DICE, Hope's Peak, his classmates and Saihara flashing in his mind.  
  
The bullet never lands on him but he feels his body being pulled and turned away from where he'd been standing. He falls to the ground with a soft thud.  
  
He faintly recalls being embraced. He felt safe in that moment.

 

* * *

 

But when Ouma cracks open his eyes, he's met with Saihara's chest. He can also feel the warm liquid oozing from it.  
  
He feels his mind stop.  
  
Acting without thinking, he detaches himself from Saihara and quickly rips a part of his shirt so that it can be used to prevent more blood from flowing.

  
  
( _there's so much blood there's so much blood this isn't right this isnt right i'm the one who's supposed to die-_ )

 

As he frantically takes off Saihara's clothing and sees the wound, he can faintly hear Momota's yells and Akamatsu's screaming in the background. He can hear Komaeda calling for Tsumiki. He tunes them out and focuses on the one person who cares about him. The one who's on the verge of death because of him.

 

* * *

 

A shaky hand cups his face and Ouma intertwines his fingers with Saihara's.

"H-Hey, Ouma-kun..?"  
  
"Shut up. Just.. shut up and let me do this, Saihara-chan."  
  
It takes all of his willpower to not break down because what kind of Supreme Leader would he be if he had one right now, right in front of a dying loved one?  
  
His heart's a mess. He can only hear Saihara's soft but harsh breathing and he focuses once more on the wound.

  
  
( _i was supposed to go first that's how it's supposed to be it was not supposed to be you it should have never been you-_ )

 

* * *

 

"O-Ouma-kun... could you.. d-do me a favor..?"

A beat of silence.  
  
"What is it, Shumai?"  
  
"C-could you sing.. something for me.. please?"  
  
Ouma bites his lip. Of all the things.. it had to be something like that. "Anything for Shumai."  
  
He starts singing a song Akamatsu had once taught him, and even if he hadn't remembered the words, the melody still stuck with him.

  
  
" _If_ _you’re with me, then everything’s alright…”_

  
He can't help the tears that fall down his face. He can feel Saihara's limp hand wiping them away. Even at death's door, he was still taking care of others.

 

* * *

 

He holds Saihara's body close to him and starts rocking him back and forth. He can hear the other Remnants coming closer, Komaeda and Tsumiki's footsteps being a bit louder than the others  
  
"Saihara-chan's an idiot.. w-why did you do that? You didn't have to.."  
  
"I know.." Saihara whispers. "..But I wanted to."  
  
"W-why?"  
  
( _why him why him why him-_ )  
  
"For once.. in my life.." Saihara starts smiling. "I.."  
  
Ouma doesn't fight it when Tsumiki gently takes Saihara away from him and asks the other Remnants for assistance. Komaeda pulls Ouma into his arms and just slowly pats his back. Saihara's words echoing in his mind.

 

* * *

 

_"I found someone I wanted to protect with all my heart."_

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was one of the first drabbles/au i sent to choaru.. it was the start of a great friendship :") I hadn't planned on posting this since it's so short but I decided to post this for memory's sake. Thanks for reading!!


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